The project, funded by the European Union in the context of the Horizon Europe programme, involves 14 partners (including the Egyptian Museum of Turin) from 10 countries. The aim is to study, also with the support of the neuroscientific method, the relationship between cognitive and emotional responses when faced with cultural heritage, in order to increase citizens’ awareness, resilience and confidence.
The role of cultural heritage in personal growth, social inclusion and individual and societal well-being is increasingly recognised and investigated, and many studies have confirmed that it affects not only the cognitive but also the emotional level.
Also with the support of the neuroscientific method, the relationship between cognitive and emotional responses to cultural heritage will be studied. Increasing the awareness and confidence of citizens towards the complex contemporary reality is the aim of the European project META-MUSEUM (“Moving Emotions towards Confidence in the Transformative Appropriation for a Meaningful Understanding of Cultural Heritage: a Neuroscientific Approach to EUropean Museums”), coordinated by the Politecnico di Torino and funded by the European Union in the context of the Horizon Europe programme (the world’s largest transnational research and innovation funding programme), call HORIZON-CL2-2023-HERITAGE-01-04: “Cultural heritage in transformation – facing change with confidence”.
The project will last three years and involves 14 partners (including the Egyptian Museum of Turin) from 10 European countries: Italy, France, Germany, Greece, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain and Sweden. A series of experiments will be conducted in several European museums, but also in the wards of a hospital and in urban contexts, in order to involve a wide range of the public. META-MUSEUM, with the support of neuroscientific investigations, will study the encounter with cultural heritage as a ‘transformative’ experience, with a view to supporting not only the growth of all citizens, but also their resilience, empathy, and confidence in the future at a decidedly complex time for Europe and the world.
Under the guidance of the coordinators – the professors of the Department of Architecture and Design-DAD Valeria Minucciani and Michela Benente – and with the help of neuroscientists, sociologists, museologists and computer scientists from various European institutions, the research group will therefore conduct experiments in at least three archaeological museums (the MAC in Barcelona, the MuséoParc in Alésia and the Egyptian Museum in Turin), developing solutions that invite the active participation of citizens, calling on them to interpret and co-create the contents. But the research team will not stop there: the encounter with heritage outside traditionally designated places will be investigated, thus in the wards of a hospital and in urban places, where they will also be able to involve those who do not usually frequent cultural venues.
‘All too often it is still thought that cultural heritage only acts at a cognitive level, and that it is the bearer of immutable content,’ stress Professors Valeria Minucciani and Michela Benente of the Politecnico di Torino. ‘As the most recent definition of a museum states, the encounter with heritage not only increases knowledge but also invites interpretation and provokes reflection. Neuroscience, working together with other disciplines, can help us understand how the encounter with heritage acts, and how contemporary European citizens can be transformed by it’.
Project outcomes include a new approach to cultural communication and technological tools to support it.
The list of project partners, in addition to the coordinator Politecnico di Torino: “La Sapienza” Università degli Studi di Roma (Italia); VU University Amsterdam (Paesi Bassi); Kentro Merimnas Oikogeneias Kai Paidiou (Grecia); Friedrich-Schiller-Universitat Jena (Germania); Osrodek Przetwarzania Informacji-Panstwowy Institute Badawczy (Polonia); Vilniaus Gedimino Technikos Universitetas (Lituania); European Museum Academy (Paesi Bassi); Beia Consult International Srl (Romania); the Nordic Centre of Heritage Learning and Creativity (Svezia); Morfwtiko Idryma Ethnikis Trapezis-MIET (Grecia); MuséoParc Alésia (Francia); Agencia Catalana Del Patrimoni Cultural (Spagna); Fondazione Museo Delle Antichità Egizie Di Torino (Italia).
